Grimm

Grimm

Episode 9: Of Mouse and Man

By: Carlos Uribe

Grimm is a show about a guy who hunts fairy tale monsters.

Spoilers Ahoy!

Some people have father issues. To be more specific, some fathers can be non-supportive and mean to their kids. They can yell at them to try and get them to behave. They can insult them. They can state that the kid can't do this and can't do that. They are terrible fathers and their offspring have to feel like they constantly have to win his approval, his pride. Sometimes it can get too much and this pressure to impress can get to you. This is what happens to tonight's monster-of-the-week. He's a mouse-person which typically run away from any threats. The mouse-man of this week isn't like that because of his father. He starts to attack people who give him problems after his father's death. The reason he does this is because every time he sees someone being rude to him, all he can see is the face of his father. Even when nobody is talking to him and he has done something like punch a guy, he can see the face of his disapproving father on everyone he sees. He's a mouse-man who tries to take charge of his life but in the end takes things way to far and who then can't escape his dead father.

It's funny to see this episode in that it tried to actually misdirect the viewer and failed badly. It tells the viewer that the mouse-people never do anything worth writing about and are therefore inconsequential. It also introduces another monster, one that the viewer is told can be extremely dangerous. I felt it was obvious that it was going to be the mouse-man who ends up being the bad guy. There was a doubt when the mouse-man got attacked by the red herring, but I was soon proven right. It takes a while, but the police eventually do manage to catch him. All he can do is see his father's face in his reflection. No matter what he does or who he is with, his father is always there daunting him. Showing him that he isn't anybody no matter how hard he tries. Showing him that he's just like his father, which means he won't amount to anything.

Monroe doesn't really help out with the case. He gives out the information that mouse-people tend to be cowards, but other than that he's busy with his own problems. That problem is that the reapers don't like that he's helping a Grimm. They beat him up. This leads him to decide to help Nick out even more because he's not happy with the message. They may be able to beat him up once, but he promises to be there ready next time. It's nice to see Monroe finally and seemingly happy to be helping out Nick, as being a reluctant anti-hero can get old after a while. It would be a big improvement to the show if he started to consult part-time to the police so he could get officially involved in police investigations and hence have a bigger role on the show. Since he's the best character on the show, this would actually be a wise course of action.

Even Juliet has her own story this week. She notices that a truck has someone taking pictures of her house. She gets Nick to run the license plate number of the track and uses the information to go the truck owner's house. While there, the woman from the truck notice her. This scares the woman as she takes her children and they run inside the house, hiding from Juliet. Juliet obviously finds this odd especially since she has done nothing to warrant fear from anyone. She's getting closer to finding out the truth about Nick, and it'll be interesting to see how far the series is willing to take her on this truth discovery quest. Will she find out the actual truth, or will it be some kind of concocted scheme by Nick or someone else?

The episode was overall good. It had a good monster-of-the-week who was at the same time someone the audience could root against but who they could also find some sympathy for him. It also has given Monroe a stronger and much needed bond with Nick. Juliet meanwhile is being slowly dragged into the Grimm's world, but by how much? It was all pretty good.